JAKARTA – The Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI) Chairman Eddy Martono said that due to increasingly widespread rejection, it is likely that the implementation of European Union Deforestation-free Regulation (EUDR) will be further delayed.
“Rejection has not only come from Indonesia and Malaysia. Other countries like the USA, Brazil, and Argentina also reject the EUDR as their products such as soybean are also subjected to the EUDR. So, I think its implementation will be delayed,” Eddy said during GAPKI’s Halal Bihalal (Eid al-Fitr Gathering) with media in Jakarta on Tuesday (30/4/2024).
The EU enacted the EUDR on 29 June 2022 and scheduled to make it effective since 16 May 2023. But due to strong rejection from Indonesia and Malaysia, the EU has decided to start enforcing it by the end of this year.
Eddy said that Indonesia has been continually expressing its rejection to the EUDR implementation. “Next September through Joint Task Force (JTF) meeting, Indonesia, Malaysia and EU will meet again to discuss about the EUDR. It will become the third meeting of Indonesia, Malaysia, and EU, and it will be held in Brussels, Belgium” he said.
He said that during their first and second meeting, Indonesia, Malaysia and EU failed to reach a middle way on the implementation of the EUDR. “That’s why the third meeting of JTF was scheduled. We’ll discuss it face to face with the European Commission,” said Eddy.
Previously, Economic Coordinating Minister Airlangga Hartarto said that the delayed implementation of EUDR is seen as a solution under current condition. It is because the rejection does not only come from foreign countries but also from within member countries of EU.
According to him, Copa Cogeca, the leading agriculture association of EU, has also proposed that the EUDR implementation should be delayed as it needs longer time for adequate preparations before its implementation.
Besides the criticisms filed by the European agriculture association against the EUDR, a wave of concerns has been also expressed by many countries, which include the USA, India and Brazil.
“The EUDR implementation will certaintly harm the plantation and forestry products, such as cocoa, coffee, rubber, woods and palm oil. That’s why many countries have voiced their serious concerns over the EUDR,” he said. (*)
Source: KONTAN.CO.ID
